On November 21, 2019 members of the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity took to the streets, just as they had done 40 years earlier to reclaim the streets of North Amityville for a positive purpose. The march over forty years ago marked the birth of the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity. It was then that a “crack epidemic” had taken hold of North Amityville that had spread from New York York City. Literally hundreds of lives were being lost to the drugs and violence that had become all too familiar on the streets of North Amityville.

Against that backdrop the seasoned pastor of the Hollywood Baptist Church of Christ, Rev. Andy C. Lewter, Sr., made a daring move to interrupt his worship service on Sunday and march his congregation to the corners of Albany Avenue and Great Neck Road to have prayer and offer the benediction to his worship service. What started out as an act by a single congregation quickly spread throughout the North Amityville community. By the next Sunday several other churches joined the Sunday morning march to “the block” to hold prayer and demand that the Town of Babylon do something to arrest the death and devastation that was plaguing the community. In the end, the Town of Babylon condemned “the block” and tore down the buildings that had become a haven and hiding place for so much illegal activities.

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However, that would not be end of the efforts of the North Amityville church community. On the heels of their successful effort to have “the block” condemned, the churches continued to organize and meet. The results of these meetings gave rise to the organization of the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity. The group was launched with Rev. Andy C. Lewter, Sr. serving as President with Rev. Black of the Bethel AME Church of Copiague serving as First Vice President and Bishop Frank O. White serving as Second Vice President. Other founding members that remain today include Overseer Robert Burgess of the Grace Community Church, Bishop Walter Willie of the Prayer Tabernacle Church of God in Christ and Dr. Patricia Rickenbacker of the Living Hope Missionary Baptist Church of East Massapequa.

While the group initially was concentrated in North Amityville, it rapidly grew to include the surrounding areas of Massapequa, Wyandanch, West Babylon and Farmingdale. Seizing upon the momentum created by the campaign against “the block”, the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity went on to further establish itself as a major community asset with the convening of an annual Martin Luther King Celebration Worship Service each year. The service started out being held in the auditoriums of local high schools to accommodate the large crowds that were in attendance. MANA also went on to award academic scholarships to several young people in the area. It is said that those who fail to remember their past are prone to repeat it, it is for that reason that we pause to remember the path and history of the Ministerial Alliance of North Amityville and Vicinity.

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